Nothing To Fear (But Fear Itself)
by DittyWrites
Summary: Dr Jonathan Crane makes a small trip to Central City and bumps into Team Flash (Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Wells). How will the team survive being dosed with fear gas and forced to confront their greatest fears? (Takes place after 'Regrets'.) Reviews are always appreciated.
1. Fear Kills

"Do we know what killed them?" Joe asked while delicately pulling the sheet back up to cover the panic-stricken faces of the two corpses. Two bodies had came in this morning; one had been found in a parking lot next to a burnt-out car and the other had been discovered in an abandoned taxi. The victim in the taxi was covered in scratches while the other was totally unharmed. But both had the same look of frozen panic and pain etched onto their faces.

"I'm running some blood tests at the moment, Joe." Barry replied. He was relieved that Joe had fixed the sheet since the expressions were seriously unsettling to look at. "I should have the results any minute really."

"Sure." Joe looked at the covered bodies again. "So what can you tell me from what you already know?"

"Well..." Barry began, "The man is Dr Samuel Mossan, a lecturer of Psychology at Gotham University while the women is Professor Jean Wright and she's also a lecturer at Gotham University." He paused. "The injuries on Wrights' face and body appear to self inflicted but don't seem to be directly responsible for her death."

"Why would two Gotham lecturers be in Central City together?" Joe glanced at Barry questioningly. "Do you think it's a coincidence?"

Barry thought for a second. "No. I think I remember Dr Wells telling me about a conference which was being held on recent psychological breakthroughs. I suppose both would have been attending that."

Joe opened his mouth to respond when an intern walked in with a few files in hand. "That's the blood work finished. Lets have a look and see what's happened here."

"This is weird." Barry squinted at the readouts in front of him. "Both victims had a very unique variety of drugs in their system at the time of death. I don't recognise the formula but the blood shows that they were also experiencing extreme levels of stress at the time of death. If I had to guess, I think they might have died of heart failure Joe."

"So...murder?" Joe reached for the charts which Barry had in his hand. "There's no way this was a coincidence."

"I asked the coroner to send me up his findings too and he says that a brain scan has shown that the amygdala in both patients was severely inflamed. That may be a result of the drug cocktail."

"And what would that do to a person? An inflamed amygdala?" Joe asked confused.

"Well the amygdala is traditionally associated with fear conditioning and anxiety. Adding in the state of the victims and the blood work, I think these people might have been scared to death."

Joe grimaced. "Do you think this is a meta-thing?"

"Might be. I'll go run it by the rest of the team." Barry shrugged. "I'll get back to you when I know more Joe." Barry nodded a goodbye before disappearing.


	2. Plotting

Arriving at STAR Labs a few seconds later, Barry walked into the main lab. It was empty so he called out loudly to try and identify their locations. He heard a faint "IN HERE" from one of the side labs and made his way over. Cisco and Caitlin were watching Dr Wells run on the treadmill at top speed.

It had been months since Barry had confronted Wells inside that abandoned building and although it was incredibly difficult at first they were able to finally reach an agreement. Wells could continue to work within Team Flash since his knowledge and abilities could still be a huge benefit to them all but if he made the slightest step out of line then he was gone forever. It had taken weeks for the team to get to some semblance of normality and it was only after Wells almost died saving Cisco from a meta-human with a grudge that he became fully accepted.

Cisco and Caitlin were attempting to analyse Wells' maximum potential running speed to see how it compared to Barry's. Seeing the man in question enter the lab Cisco called an end to the experiment. Wells' jumped off the side of the treadmill and landed next to it gracefully, "And that Mr Allen is how you leave a treadmill at 600 miles per hour without your face meeting the wall." Barry stuck his tongue out immaturely and lead the three into the main lab.

"I think I have something meta-related. We got two bodies into the morgue today and both appear to have been frightened to death. Is that possible?" Barry looked at Wells.

Wells nodded. "Yes. If the body reaches a high enough level of stress then the individual can suffer from severe heart failure. Do you have the autopsy or blood work?" He waited while Barry handed them each a copy. He was only around half way down the page before he swore slightly under his breath, "We have a problem."

Cisco, Caitlin and Barry looked at him in surprise. "What kind of problem, Dr Wells?" Cisco asked.

"I know who did this and he's not a meta-human. The mans name is Dr Jonathan Crane. He was a psychology lecturer at the Gotham University who became obsessed with fear. He was struck off the teaching register after performing unethical experiments on students. It was the talk of the science community for quite a long time. He uses a specialised cocktail of drugs which he injects into his victims. It causes severe hallucinations and terror. I imagine both your victims had phobias of some form?" He looked at Barry.

Caitlin swiped her tablet a few times before declaring, "Yes. Dr Mossan suffered from severe pyrophobia while Professor Wright was terrified of insects. I suppose that fits because if Wright was hallucinating insects all over her then that would explain the self-inflicted scratch marks."

Barry tilted his head. "So how do we find him then? Does he have an address in Central City?"

"No." Cisco shook his head. "According to the computer here though there is a third member of the Gotham Univeristy attending the conference. A Dr Kendra Brown and she's currently staying in the top apartment of the Apollo Hotel on Coolidge Street."

"If Crane is attempting to kill his old colleagues then we should probably go and warn her before he can get to her." Caitlin indicated to Barry and Wells. "Lets go." She glanced at her tablet and looked up again to see Barry and Wells were already in their costumes. She sighed and held her hand out for Wells while Barry grabbed Cisco's hand and the four of them disappeared to go and warn the poor doctor about the lunatic who was after her.


	3. Scarecrow?

They approached the door of the apartment. Barry lead the team while Wells kept a eye on the empty hallway behind them just to make sure Crane didn't make a sudden appearance. "Dr Brown! Dr Brown are you in there?!" Barry continued to knock on the door but received no response. He glanced at Cisco and shrugged slightly while Caitlin decided to just try the door handle. It was unlocked and the door swung open.

The four entered the doorway and were instantly on high alert. The apartment was a mess and it looked like a real struggle had taken place, broken furniture and glass shards littered the floor. "Looks like we're too late." Cisco said eyeing up the mess. He moved forward into the middle of the living room and the rest of them heard him take a heavy intake of breath. "Guys, I think I found Dr Brown." They moved over to his position and took in the sight of the doctors body which was lying face-up with an unmistakeable look of terror in her eyes.

"Damn." Barry whispered. "I really don't think I like this Dr Crane."

"Speak of the devil and he will appear." Came a dry, cold voice from the kitchen. Whipping around the quartet got their first look at the man. Caitlin and Cisco gasped in sync. Crane was stood in the kitchen doorway. He was incredibly tall, almost reaching the top of the doorway itself, and extremely thin. His skeletal frame was covered in what looked like old rags; the pants were brown and the shirt was black with dark fabric winding up the arms. On his head he had an old frayed hat which topped a burlap sack that covered his face. The mask only had eyeholes and a terrifying smile stitched into it. "But I much prefer the name Scarecrow."

"He named himself." Cisco whispered. "And look at that costume, this give is giving off some real bad juju."

"Give yourself up Crane." Barry called out. "We have you surrounded." Barry could see Wells tensing up from the corner of his eye in preparation of a fight.

"That's unlikely to happen." Crane drawled. "See, I had to come to Central City to meet up with a few old friends who I had some business with and now that's been settled i'm going to return to Gotham and continue my very important research. But thank you for showing up. Even in Gotham, the rumours of the man in red who can move at super human speeds are rampant." Crane laughed sadistically and the sound of it sent chills up Barry's spine. "Goodbye." Crane threw his hand out towards the foursome and they were all suddenly enveloped in a fine mist.

Coughing, Wells dashed forward and slammed Crane into the wall. "What did you just hit us with?" He growled at the taller man.

"Just a little dose of my latest and most potent batch of fear toxin. I've been working on a gas compound since the liquid form is more difficult to apply. I would say you have a maximum of ten minutes before the dose takes full effect so enjoy the time you have left." Cranes face was hidden but the smirk in his voice was unmistakable.

Wells let go of him and make his way over to the trio who were still choking on the mist. "We need to get out of here before the drugs take hold or we are going to end up like Dr Brown over there." The three nodded and Wells glared at Crane before snarling, "This is not over. We will be back for you Crane!"

"Empty threats. All four of you will be dead within a few hours and I will be back in Gotham." Crane said simply. "If you do manage to survive, drop me a line because I would like to know of any side-effects which affect survivors. The majority die but the minority who have survived are never usually very helpful."

"I wonder why!" Caitlin spat as she felt her heart rate begin to rise. "Guys we seriously need to get out of here!" Barry nodded and snatched her up before disappearing in a flash of red lightning. Wells hesitated to throw one last hateful glance at Crane, who waved childishly in response, before picking up Cisco and following Barry back to STAR Labs.


	4. Grin And Bear It

Cisco and Caitlin found themselves deposited into chairs as soon as they arrived back at STAR Labs. The duo were beginning to feel the fear toxin take hold as their palms begin to sweat and they found their breathing becoming slightly shallower. Barry had taken out his phone to text Joe and make him aware of the situation. Due to their more powerful metabolism, Wells guessed that he and Barry had maybe a few minutes longer before they started to feel the same effects as Cisco and Caitlin. Making a quick decision, he disappeared into the chemical lab and appeared a minute later with four test tubes full of a dark purple liquid.

"Something is telling me that isn't grape-flavoured." Cisco quipped while wringing his hands. "What's inside the tubes Dr Wells?"

"Since we don't have the time to formulate an antidote for the fear toxin we will need to make do with this. The chemicals inside this tube should reduce the levels of inflammation to the amygdala so that there is no permanent damage. It should also keep our heart rates at a stable level to prevent any cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about the hallucinations so we will just need to grin and bear it." He grimaced. "As a precaution, I have also included a strong sedative which should prevent us from harming ourselves or each other in a panic. I even created one strong enough to keep myself and Barry sedated for a few hours. Also Barry, you might want to ask Joe to come here as soon as possible to keep an eye on us."

Barry pulled his phone out again and sent off the text. "So what do we do now? Do we just down these shots and all lie here together in various states of terror? Sounds like great fun." He swallowed nervously.

Wells looked at his watch. "Caitlin and Cisco have another five minutes until the drugs will take full effect. I think we should move to the medical wing and isolate ourselves in a room each. That will also minimise the possible damage we could do to each other. The concoction i've made will basically put us into a deep sleep while we hallucinate." He hesitated for a second before continuing. "I need every one of you to remember that whatever you see or feel or hear is just a hallucination and cannot actually harm you. It will feel like reality but you need to suffer through it i'm afraid. If any of you have relaxation techniques then I suggest that you get working on them." He gave them all a sympathetic glance.

"This is going to really suck." Wiping her forehead with her hand, Caitlin picked up one of the test tubes from Wells and shook it around. "This looks like it's gonna taste awful."

"You said it Dr Snow." Cisco agreed while snatching up two vials and handing one to Barry. Giving each other nervous looks, the foursome made their way over to the medical wing. Each person stood outside their chosen room and waited for someone else to make a move. Sighing, Barry decided to lead the pack and downed his full test tube in one go, gasping as the liquid burned down his throat and made him feel instantly groggy. He watched the other three follow suit. "That definitely wasn't grape-flavoured!" Cisco exclaimed while clutching his throat. They nodded to each other before turning around and disappearing into their rooms.

Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Wells lay down on the bed they each had in their room as they felt the full force of both the drug doses they had received in the last ten minutes hit their systems. As each person was taken over by the drug-induced sleep, they spared a thought for their friends and colleagues in the rooms around them and vaguely wondered what kind of fears would be terrorising them for the next few hours.


	5. Barry

"Hey Joe." Barry called as he arrived at the crime scene. "What are we looking at?"

Joe nodded a hello and replied, "Double homicide. These two men were found by this abandoned warehouse this morning by a local jogger who called it in. Both appear to have been executed with a single gunshot to the back of the head and left here to be discovered. We're still working on the identities but it might take a while since neither had identification."

"Do you think it's gang related?" Barry asked while quickly examining the two bodies. "This section of town has some real links with different crime families."

"It's likely that it's gang or drug related but I don't want to rule anything else out." Joe waved at the approaching Captain Singh. "If you can phone me when you have the forensic work done then we can make a decision based on that. Until then i'm going to work on the assumption that it was a gang hit."

The blood and forensic work was easy enough to analyse and within a few hours they had some concrete results. Both men had traces of cocaine in their systems and the cause of death had been a single gunshot wound to the back of the skull. They were also identified as Danny Beaton and Sam Richards, two low-level henchmen with strong ties to the Menachi family. Barry contacted Joe as soon as the blood work had come through and Joe told him that there was a raid being planned on one of the abandoned buildings which was suspected of being a Menachi drug production centre.

"Will you be joining us on our raid tonight Barry?" Joe asked while suiting up in his riot gear. "If things get ugly we might need a bit of support from the guy in red."

"Umm well I actually have plans tonight with Cisco and Caitlin. There's a new potential meta-human out causing robberies and we want to catch him as quickly as possible. But if you do run into trouble then let me know and i'll be there in a flash." Barry winked and smirked at his own joke while Joe sighed deeply.

Barry, Cisco and Caitlin were in the main cortex attempting to locate the next possible location which their new meta-human might attempt to rob when Barry got the phone call. Making his excuses to Caitlin and Cisco, he answered. "Yeah it's Barry."

"Barry!" Came a quiet laboured voice which Barry was able to identify as Captain Singh. "It was a trap, the warehouse raid was a massive trap. We were ambushed by thirty gunmen wh-" Barry winced as Singh was cut off by a coughing fit.

Barry felt his blood run cold. "Captain Singh! Are you okay? Where's Joe" Barry could feel the panic and fear blossoming in his stomach. There was a moments hesitation on the other end of the line.

"I don't know Barry." Singh whispered. "He was separated from us." Barry opened his mouth to respond when he heard the phone call cut out.

"CAPTAIN SINGH!" Barry yelled into the phone before disappearing from STAR Labs in a burst of red lightning.

Running at top speed, it only took Barry a few seconds to locate the warehouse. He could see the various CCPD vehicles parked outside and as he passed them he only felt him feeling of dread increase. Opening the side door, Barry was instantly hit with the coppery scent of blood mixed with gunpowder. Bodies littered the floor, some of whom Barry recognised and he felt ill, there was so much death and loss. He moved through the warehouse and with each step he took he was confronted by new horrors. Feeling dizzy, he stumbled across another body. It was Captain Singh. Bending down quickly, Barry checked his pulse and felt relief flood through him as he felt a steady heartbeat. Singh had apparently passed out and Barry noticed the gunshot wound to the mans lower leg. Using his speed, he tore off a length of fabric from his shirt and used it to staunch the flow of blood and buy the man some time until the paramedics arrived.

He continued his search of the warehouse and kept an eye out for any survivors but so far he hadn't came across any. A sense of numbness had come over him and all he could feel was guilt and horror. He could have stopped this. He could have helped Joe when Joe had asked and then all of this would have been avoided. But he hadn't. And now he couldn't find Joe. He wasn't in the main hall or any of the other rooms and the only area which Barry hadn't searched was the bathroom. But as he looked at the grimy white bathroom door he was filled with pure terror, the door itself was unremarkable but as Barry approached it he knew that something was wrong.

He pushed it open and felt his entire world collapse around him as he hit the floor. Joe's lifeless body was propped up against the side wall with one hand around his gun while the other was still loosely clutching at the bullet wound in his stomach. A raw, animalistic noise of pure grief tore itself from Barrys' throat as he reached for his father-figure. Tears stung his eyes as they streamed down his face. He was unable to remove his gaze from Joe's glassy eyed stare which seemed to be boring into his soul in an accusatory manner. "It's all my fault." Barry thought as he sobbed. "All my fault. All my fault. Should have been here."

The stench of blood and death was too much for Barry to bear and he felt himself starting to retch. After emptying the contents of his stomach in the nearest toilet he made his way back over to Joe. Still in denial, he held up two shaking fingers to check for pulse and after receiving no response began to sob harder as he pulled himself closer to the fallen man. "I'm so sorry Joe I'm s-so sorry." The rest of his words were incoherent as he continued to cry.

Barry awoke in his room at STAR Labs.


	6. Cisco

It was a lifelong tradition in the Ramon household for the entire family to spend the last Sunday of each month together on a family outing. This month it was Dantes' turn to choose the location and he had selected a new animal exhibition which was doing a tour around the US and was currently situated in Central City. Cisco was pleasantly surprised by the choice since Dante tended to choose events which suited himself more than anyone else.

His pleasant surprise lasted less than an hour. As they arrived at the exhibition, his parents had made comments about how nice it was to get a family outing to somewhere so interesting and Cisco struggled to think of a single time when his choice of outing had been well-received. He chose to bite his tongue to keep the peace since it was only for a few more hours. They were about half-way through the exhibition before anyone spoke directly to him. "So Cisco." Dante asked politely. "How is your work going?"

Cisco gave him a quick scrutinizing look. It wasn't very often Dante made inquires about Ciscos' work life. "Good. We're working on some new and pretty awesome projects."

"That's nice." Dante said disinterestedly while studying a stick insect display. Cisco sighed. Clearly he had used up his daily allowance of interest points and he was now back to being totally insignificant.

He decided that he couldn't handle it any longer. Waiting until they reached the next exhibit, he slipped away into a side room to get some space. Anger and sadness waged inside of him as he considered the way his family treated him. He had spent his whole childhood always afraid that they loved Dante more than him and, as the years wore on, he became more aware of how obvious that preference was.

He heard a soft clicking noise as the door closed and he immediately turned around to grab at it. It was locked. Cisco swore softly under his breath and looked around him. The room was completely white and there was only one other connecting door. Eyeing it up, Cisco sighed and decided to just keep going until he made it back to the main hall so he could leave and return to STAR Labs. He walked backwards through the second door and waited until he heard it click shut before turning around.

Instantly, he felt short of breath. Bees. Bees everywhere. So many bees. A massive sign reading 'APIARY' was visible on the other side of the room and Cisco felt his heart tighten in his chest. As a child, Dante had once locked him in a bathroom with a bee for a joke and in his desperation to get away from it he had slipped and knocked himself out on the sink. When his parents had arrived home, Dante had claimed that Cisco had been messing around in the bathroom when he fell and his parents had believed him. His dislike of bees became a full blown fear after that.

As he gazed around the room he counted at least twelve different hives and he felt physically sick at the sound of the constant buzzing. The only other door in the room was on the opposite wall and that would involve having to get near the hives. Which wasn't an option. Cisco backed up against the door as he began to hyperventilate. He couldn't support his own weight and he sunk to the floor. Hugging his knees close to his chest, he started to recite various scientific formulas to try and calm himself. It really wasn't working and he could feel his stomach twisting. His utter panic turned to complete terror when he spotted the bees beginning to emerge from the hives.

He attempted to nestle in closer to the wall to put more distance between him and the bees but there was literally nowhere to go. To make matters worse, the bees began to move towards his direction as if they were choreographed. Cisco squealed as the swarm approached and he made the manly decision to cover his face with his hands. Tears pricked at his eyes and he felt like he might pass out. He could feel his entire body shuddering as the persistent buzzing noise came closer and closer until he could literally feel the swarms vibrations against his skin.

Cisco awoke in his room at STAR Labs.


	7. Caitlin

"I can't remember the last time we did this." Caitlin grinned happily as she walked with Ronnie. Before his 'death' in the particle accelerator Ronnie and Caitlin had a habit of walking through the Central City park instead of getting a taxi home. Since they both tended to work really late hours it usually ended up being a midnight stroll and even though both were always shattered, it was still something to look forward to.

"Well I was kinda dead for a while Cait." Ronnie grinned and pulled her closer. "And since Martin and I are in town I thought I'd surprise you.

"Where is Martin now?" Caitlin inquired.

"He's away visiting Clarissa. We've managed to work out that we can have a full day apart before any negative side affects begin. And for that day there's nowhere I'd rather be than with you." Ronnie grinned as Caitlin leaned up to give him a quick kiss.

"Sweet talker." She purred. They walked in companionable silence for the next few minutes as they took in the night atmosphere. There was virtually no one else around and the night was pleasantly warm. She tightened her grip on Ronnies' hand affectionately as they followed the small, winding park. The tranquility was soon broken when a short feminine scream burst suddenly from the woods to their left.

Jumping in surprise, Caitlin instinctively moved closer to Ronnie. "Was that a scream?" She whispered. "What should we do?"

With a mildly concerned look on his face, Ronnie peered into the woods before putting his hands on Caitlins' shoulders. "Listen Cait, i'm going to go check it out super quick just in case someone is hurt or needing help. Wait here for me and i'll be back as quickly as possible." Caitlin sighed deeply. Ronnie always had to be a hero and she knew that there would be no talking him out of it. "Please be careful." Ronnie nodded before turning and disappearing into the darkness.

As soon as Ronnie left Caitlin felt her stress levels sky rocket. She had forgotten how dark the park could get at night and she had been to preoccupied with how happy she was that Ronnie was back to notice. As long as she could remember she had been afraid of the dark. Nychtophobia, it was called. As a child she had been petrified of the dark and always had a large night light in her bedroom. As she got older it lessened slightly and by the time she met Ronnie it was under control. She was always able to sleep in the dark if Ronnie was next to her. If she ever started to panic she only had to move towards him and he would pull her close and she could always feel herself relax.

The particle explosion was a massive setback though. She had unofficially moved in with Cisco in the immediate aftermath since she couldn't bear to stay in her own apartment. He had offered her the bedroom but she choose to stay on the couch so that she could keep the television on all night. She barely slept and the thought of being alone in the dark again terrified her. Cisco knew of her fear and was completely accommodating, letting her know that he would always be available if she needed someone to speak to during the night.

And now she was abandoned in the blackness and Ronnie had been missing for over ten minutes. "RONNIE!" She called out loudly. No response. Deciding to be brave, she followed his path through the woods. She used her phone to light the path ahead of her."Ronnie!" She shouted again and waited. Nothing. She moved more quickly as her panic increased and as she dashed forward she felt her foot catch on a loose tree stump. She was sent sprawling to the ground, dropping the phone in the process. "NO!" She screamed as she frantically felt across the forest bed to locate it since she was now in complete darkness. After searching for a few minutes she burst into tears as she realised that there was no way she would be able to find it.

Still sitting on the ground. She swore she felt something brush against her side and she screamed again. Her heart was thumping in her chest and she could feel her legs shaking. This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening. Where was Ronnie? Where was she? Caitlin couldn't help herself as she started to cry harder, the horror of her situation finally hitting her. She was alone in the woods in utter darkness and deafening silence, which was only punctured by her occasional sob. Burying her face in her hands, she tried to stifle the noise as she felt her breathing becoming more and more erratic as the dark pressed in on her.

Caitlin awoke in her room at STAR Labs.


	8. Wells

"Sure Dr Wells." Cisco replied as he handed it to the older man before returning to Caitlin who was running some new tests on Barrys' blood. Wells continued to tinker with the old generator and managed to find the source of the issue. One of the wires near the back had completed rusted away and was no longer conducting as it should have been. Leaning further into the wires he reached forward to have a closer examination when he heard an odd sizzling noise beside him. Before he could even react the entire thing exploded and he was knocked clean out.

The first thing Wells felt upon waking up was pain. He groaned and opened his eyes to try and work out exactly what the hell had just happened. He had been thrown into the wall which had crumbled around him and now one of his legs was trapped under the concrete. Wiggling his shoulders, he winced at short stabs of pain came from the left which suggested it was definitely broken. He was sitting against what remained of the wall and he could feel random pieces of what felt like metal buried into various parts of his upper torso and arms. The distinct smell of blood and electrical burning invaded his senses.

Looking around the room he spotted Barry, Caitlin and Cisco standing a few feet to the left of him watching him passively. Confusion reigned inside his head, why were they just standing there? Could they not tell that he was hurt? As if hearing his thoughts, Barry spoke.

"Nice one Cisco. I didn't know if that would work or not." He inclined his head towards Wells. "Hello Dr Wells. Nice of you to wake up."

Wells was still confused. It sounded like Cisco had deliberately set the generator up to fail. "Wha-" He began but was interrupted by Caitlin.

"Shh Harrison. You'll have your turn to speak in a minute. Are you ready Barry?" She turned to look Barry in the face. He nodded enthusiastically and she smiled in response. " Then he's all yours." Caitlin announced gleefully as she looked at the fallen man. "We've been waiting for this day for months. Months of having to pretend to have forgiven you. As if we could ever forgive you for all you've done." She ruffled his hair with mock affection and moved towards the door.

"Bye Doc." Cisco chimed in with a friendly smile on his face but with hate-filled eyes. "It's been a blast." He quipped as he gestured towards the destroyed portion of the room while using his other hand to deliberately clap a hand on Wells' broken shoulder, causing him to hiss out in pain. Cisco followed Caitlin outside the lab. As the pair retreated, Wells fought the urge to break down. This couldn't be happening. What had he missed? Did they honestly hate him enough to leave him here to suffer?

"Alone at last." Barry drawled condescendingly as he started to pace in front of the older man. "I really have to admit Dr Wells it was almost too easy for us all to convince you that we were friends. It's sad actually, how easy it was. Are you really that desperate?"

Wells felt his world tilt slightly at Barrys' words. All the months he had spent with the team post-confession flashed through his mind in rapid succession. Had that all been false? He watched Barry pace and asked the first question which came to his mind. "Why?"

"Why do you think, _Harrison_? Did you honestly think I would believe anything you told me? You're a murderer and a monster. And Cisco helped me to set-up this little accident so I can finally get some justice." Barry squatted down so he was on eye level with Wells, he placed his hand out to the side to steady himself. Feeling the pressure on his trapped leg spike, Wells let out a loud painful moan as he realised that Barry had placed his hand on the concrete rubble which was laying on top of it.

"I only did what I did because of you Barry. It was you who asked m-" Wells was cut off again as Barry used his free hand to deliver a strong slap to his cheek. Disorientated, Wells felt something wet run down the side of his face and concluded that Barry must have dislodged some of the debris which was embedded in his face.

Barry was shaking a finger in his face. "Ah ah ah. Don't lie to me. I would never ask for you to do something like that and we both know it. You chose to murder my mother and ruin my life and some bullshit story about the future is never going to change that. You're a liar and a monster. All you've ever done is lie to me and everyone you know." Something flashed in Barrys' hand as he leaned in towards his fallen mentor.

Wells screamed as he felt a sudden pain in his chest. He glanced down and was met with the image of a kitchen knife being gently forced into his heart, he recognised that knife. His vision swam as he looked slowly up at the smirking Barry who still had his hand wrapped around the handle of the blade which was slowly making its way into his chest. He clutched weakly at Barrys' legs as he felt his life slipping away. Barry moved closer and leaned down until his mouth was directly beside Wells' ear and he whispered "Liar" one final time before plunging the knife directly into his heart.

Wells awoke in his room at STAR Labs.


	9. Are You Okay?

Less than eight hours since they had left to be dosed by the good doctor himself, the foursome found themselves back in the main lab of STAR Labs. Each of them looked worse for wear but at least none of them were dead or seriously injured. Since they had all emerged from their respective rooms there had been very little discussion and after some quick research they discovered that Dr Jonathan Crane had disappeared back to Gotham and had gone underground. Disappointed, they all now sat silently with the same haunted look in their eyes.

Cisco was the first to break this silence. "I forgot how much I hated bees. And Dr Crane. I'm adding Dr Crane to the top of the list of people I hate." He rubbed his forehead. "Is everyone else okay? Caitlin?" He looked at his friend.

Caitlin smiled but it didn't quite meet her eyes. "You remember all those nights after the particle accelerator exploded and I stayed in your place?" Cisco nodded. "And do you remember how I kinda had a problem with the dark?" Ciscos' face became more serious. "Turns out that's still a massive problem. My nychtophobia is definitely not in check."

"I didn't know you were phobic of the dark, Dr Snow." Wells spoke quietly for the first time from his position behind the monitor screen. "Are you okay?" Caitlin made a small affirmative noise which didn't sound too confident.

"I think i'll be okay. I just need a bit of time. How are you doing Barry?" She moved towards the brunette man who was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. As soon as Barry had entered the room the first thing he had done was call up Joe and ask if he was okay and when Joe confirmed that he was, Barry had almost started crying. Caitlin didn't need to be a genius to work out what the main theme of Barrys' dream was.

"I'm fine Caitlin. It was just a hell of a trip though. I'll be happy if I never need to experience that again." He shuddered slightly and decided that sitting and moping wasn't going to help anyone. He walked over to where Wells was seated. The older man had been virtually silent since emerging from the room and it had been noticed by the other three but no one was quite sure how to broach the subject. Walking up behind him he placed a hand on Wells' shoulder but removed it instantly when Wells visibly flinched.

Standing up quickly, Wells moved towards the door and disappeared into the hallway. Confusion and concern raged within Barry as he watched him leave. Why did he flinch at Barrys' touch? And why did he leave without a single word? Catching eyes with Caitlin, she made a pointing gesture towards the door and Barry followed her advice and swiftly went to chase down his former boss. He didn't have to travel far as Wells had stopped in the hallway and was sitting with his back to the wall and his hands in his hair.

"Dr Wells?" Barry asked tentatively. "What's wrong with you? What happened?" Barry sat down on the opposite side of the hallway. Wells lifted his head and stared blankly at Barry for a few seconds and Barry could see the pain and regret in his eyes. "Do you want to talk about your dream?"

Wells shook his head slightly before sighing deeply and responding. "It wasn't real Barry. I don't really need to talk about it. Some things happened, I died and then I woke up."

Barry was surprised. "You died? How?" Barry cringed at the bluntness of his own question.

"I had an accident and while I was powerless I was badly hurt and then stabbed." Wells answered deciding to be equally as blunt. He knew the younger man wouldn't let the issue go until he was satisfied with the answer.

Barry sat dumbly for a second before he recalled Wells' odd behaviour and flinch earlier and a thought occurred to him. "Dr Wells." He asked softly. "Was it me? Did I do something bad to you?" He knew instantly that he was right as he saw Wells flinch slightly again and desperately try to avoid eye contact with Barry. "Please tell me what happened?"

Wells kept his eyes locked firmly on the ground as he gave Barry the details of his fear-toxin induced nightmare. Barrys' eyes got progressively wider as the story continued and by the time Wells' had come to the end and described his ironic death at Barrys' own hand, Barrys' face was stricken with horror. "Dr Wells." Barry began in a sad tone. "Is that really you're greatest fear? That we all hate you enough to allow you to suffer and die? To torture you?"

Giving Barry a smile which didn't quite meet his eyes, Wells answered. "It seems that way. But it was just a dream Barry, i'll be fine." His voice was shaking and Barry made a split second decision. Shuffling across the hallway, he sat next to Wells and pulled him into a one-armed hug. He felt him make a weak attempt to pull away but he held on tight and eventually the older man relaxed into it. Hearing footsteps, he glanced up the hallway to see Cisco and Caitlin approaching as they had went to find the two missing speedsters. Barry made a small welcoming wave with his free hand and Cisco sat down next to Barry while Caitlin sat on the other side of Wells. Both Barry and Wells moved their arms around the two newcomers to allow them to join in their impromptu group hug.

Silence reigned again. Each individual was still haunted by the horrors which they had spent their day facing but as they sat huddled together, offering each other silent support, they felt that maybe they might just be okay after all.


End file.
